Exchanging imminently- told no chain all along! What’s going on?

Rosa_Moline

Timeline of events;
We (my brother and I) accepted an offer on my late parents property on 15 September.
Told our buyers were cash, ready to move asap and that they’re in rented (chain free)
everything is done. They want a completion day of Monday 15 December. Only a few days away.
I asked my brother yesterday (he’s the executor) if there was an update about exchanging as it’s so close.
He replied to me that the buyers were wanting to exchange Tuesday this week - but ‘something is behind them their end’ he said a chain but I thought he must be mistaken or misunderstood.
This is the wording he got from the solicitor yesterday in the email;
It says
‘Unfortunately exchange of contracts never happened today. The buyers sale was not ready to exchange today.
Hopefully this will happen tomorrow’
(It didn’t. That was today)
BUT confusingly the buyers were wanting to exchange on Tuesday this week (2 days ago) how can they want to when they’re not in a position to?
I feel really angry that we’re only hearing about this chain now (if that’s what it is)
My brother says that everyone is still committed to moving on Monday though.
That only leaves tomorrow and Friday to exchange.
Arghhhh!

Could the wording in the solicitors email mean anything other than a ‘chain’? 

jaybeetoo

You can exchange and complete on the same day.  

eddddy

Are you selling through an estate agent - who is paid on completion, and therefore should be progressing the sale?

If so, give the estate agent a call, and ask them to call the buyer to get an update on what's happening - and call you back with the info.


Obviously, the buyer might fib to the estate agent (especially if you think they might have previously fibbed about being chain free), but you might get some useful info.

poseidon1

eddddy said:

Are you selling through an estate agent - who is paid on completion, and therefore should be progressing the sale?

If so, give the estate agent a call, and ask them to call the buyer to get an update on what's happening - and call you back with the info.


Obviously, the buyer might fib to the estate agent (especially if you think they might have previously fibbed about being chain free), but you might get some useful info.

A bit more serious than a harmless 'fib' since OP may have accepted a lower offer based on alledged chain free, cash purchaser status.

If it transpires the buyers are neither of these, were it not for all the time and expense wasted so far, my intial inclination would be to jettison the buyer on the  basis of material misrepresentation of their status.

OP hope you get your exchange/ completion by Friday, but you and sibling will have to have a serious talk about continuing with this buyer if it doesn't, as well as explaining how their chain status only became known at this late stage (is it possible your sibling knew but kept the infor from you?) .

Certainly when I was embarking on a cash purchase of a house a few years ago, my solicitor wanted detailed proof of funds to confirm for the benefit of the sellers solicitors. My status was not taken on trust.

Also how diligent was the estate agent in checking the bona fide  status of the buyer, and the validity of the representations they gave ( clearly they did not have cash at time of offer and were relying on their sale).

EssexHebridean

Pulling out at this late stage purely because you were piqued that the buyer had lied about their status would perhaps be rather counterproductive, particularly as remarketing could even see a lower price being achieved. As much as one might feel narked, sometimes you have to register that displeasure clearly and politely, and take a view as to what suits you as the seller better at the stage of the process you’re at. A sale now, rather than having to go through the whole process again, and almost certainly pay legal fees on the failed transaction, would be a tempting option IMO.

eddddy

Obviously, it's not yet clear that the buyers lied to the estate agent or you - it may be that there's a mis-understanding of some kind.


FWIW, any estate agent (except perhaps the cheap pay-in-advance "advertising-only" ones) should have done a financial appraisal of the buyer when you accepted their offer - plus AML checks.

That would involve checking the buyer's bank statements to make sure they really had the cash - and if it was appropriate, check for a mortgage AIP.

If the estate agent didn't do that, not only would they be incompetent, they would be breaching the Property Ombudsman's code of practice, and probably breaking AML regulations.



But as @EssexHebridean says, perhaps it's best to be pragmatic about this. If the buyer has lied to you, getting 'angry and judgemental' towards the buyer isn't likely to speed up the sale. If anything, it's likely to make the buyer clam-up, so you'll be even more in the dark about what's happening.

Green_hopeful

People tell buyers and sellers what they want to hear all the time. Sadly its often not true. We sold my in laws house last year and we had three buyers over 18 months. The first had the money in his bank account but strung us along for nearly a year before we realised he wasn’t going to proceed. The second only messed around for four months. The third said they had sold and were cash buyers. In fact they had to move out of their current house within two weeks of seeing our house because it had sold. We let them move in on exchange and pay rent until completion. It was only then that they admitted they needed to sell some buy to let property to complete. They completed a bit late but we charged them the penalty to encourage them to get on with it. My sister in law was mad with rage but at the end of the day its just wasted energy. House selling and buying is just super stressful. 

Hopefully your house transaction will go through and it will be ok. Good luck with it but don’t waste your energy being cross.